Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2707
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORRD God had made.” Genesis 3:1.
WE understand, of course, that this verse refers to “that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan.” The Samaritan Version reads, instead of the word, “serpent,” “deceiver,” or “liar.” If this is not the genuine reading, it nevertheless certainly declares a Truth of God. That old deceiver, of whom our Lord Jesus said to the Jews. “When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it,” was “more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” God has been pleased to give to many beasts subtlety—to some, subtlety and cunning combined with strength—in order that they may be the more destructive to certain classes of animals whose numbers require to be kept under. To others, devoid of very much strength, He has been pleased to give instincts of most marvelous wisdom for self-preservation and the destruction of their prey, and for the procuring of their food. But the subtlety of Satan far excels the wise instincts and subtlety of all the beasts of the field by far. In fact, to go further, man has, perhaps, far more cunning than any mere creature, although animal instinct sometimes seems as if it did outride human reason—but Satan has more of cunning within him than any other creature that the Lord God has made, man included.
Satan has abundant craft and is able to overcome us for several reasons. I think it would be a sufficient reason that Satan should be cunning because he is malicious—for malice is, of all things, the most productive of cunning. When a man is determined on revenge, it is strange how cunning he is to discover opportunities to vent his spite. Let a man have enmity against another, and let that enmity thoroughly possess his soul, and pour venom, as it were, into his very blood, and he will become exceedingly crafty in the means he uses to annoy and injure his adversary! Now, nobody can be more full of malice against man than Satan is, as he proves every day—and that malice sharpens his inherent wisdom, so that he becomes exceedingly subtle.
Besides, Satan is an angel, though a fallen one. We doubt not, from certain hints in Scripture, that he occupied a very high place in the hierarchy of angels before he fell. And we know that those mighty beings are endowed with vast intellectual powers, far surpassing any that has ever been given to beings of human mold. Therefore, we must not expect that a man, unaided from above, should ever be a match for an angel, especially an angel whose native intellect has been sharpened by a most spiteful malice against us.
Again, Satan may well be cunning now—I may truthfully say, more cunning than he was in the days of Adam—for he has had long dealings with the human race. This was his first occasion of dealing with mankind, when he tempted Eve, but he was, even then, “more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” Since then he has exercised all his diabolical thought and mighty powers to annoy and ruin men. There is not a saint whom he has not beset and not a sinner whom he has not misled. Together with his troops of evil spirits, he has been continually exercising a terrible control over the sons of men. He is, therefore, well skilled in all the arts of temptation. Never anatomist so well understood the human body as Satan does the human soul. He has not been “tempted in all points,” but he has tempted others in all points. He has tried to assail our manhood from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot—and he has explored every outwork of our nature—and even the most secret caverns of our souls.
He has climbed into the citadel of our heart and he has lived there. He has searched its inmost recesses and dived into its most profound depths. I suppose there is nothing of human nature that Satan cannot unravel and though, doubtless, he is the biggest fool that ever existed, as time continually proves, yet, beyond all doubt, he is the craftiest of fools, and I may add, that is no great paradox, for craft is always folly and is but another shape of departure from wisdom.
And now, Brothers and Sisters, I shall, for a few minutes, first occupy your time by noticing the craft and subtlety of Satan and the modes in which he attacks our souls. And secondly, I shall give you a few words of admonition with regard to the wisdom that we must exercise against him and the only means that we can effectually use to prevent his subtlety from being the instrument of our destruction.
I. Let us notice, in the first place, THE CRAFT AND SUBTLETY OF SATAN as we have discovered it in our own experience.
And I may begin by observing that Satan discovers his craft and subtlety by the modes of his attack. There is a man who is calm, quiet and at ease. Satan does not attack that man with unbelief or distrustfulness—he attacks him in a more vulnerable point, than that—self-love, self-confidence, worldliness. These will be the weapons which Satan will use against him. There is another person who is noted for lowness of spirits and lack of mental vigor. It is not probable that Satan will endeavor to puff him up with pride, but examining him and discovering where his weak point is, he will tempt him to doubt his calling and endeavor to drive him to despair! There is another man of strong robust bodily health, having all his mental powers in full and vigorous exercise, enjoying the promises and delighting in the ways of God. Satan will possibly not attack him with unbelief because he feels that he has armor for that particular point, but he will attack him with pride, or with some temptation to lust. He will most thoroughly and carefully examine us—and if he shall find us to be like Achilles, vulnerable nowhere else but in our heel, then he will shoot his arrows at our heel.